Starting a business is exciting. And overwhelming.

You’ve finally hit upon an idea that makes your brain buzz and your belly burn. You’ve picked a name and imagined how your brand will take over the world.

You know you need some marketing collateral if you’re going to get some customers and you’re keen to get the ball rolling.

So you hire a copywriter to help give your words some professional pizzazz.

This is where it can all start to go pear-shaped. I know, because I’ve worked with a few business owners who were so excited about getting the ball rolling, they hadn’t actually defined what the ball looked like.

Excitement and passion is good. Great, in fact, but here are 3 questions you MUST be able to answer before you hire a copywriter. 

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This is a post about personality. The importance of creating a personality for your business and how important it is when it comes to making connections with customers.

I’ve wanted to interview Glenn Murray from Divine Write for a while. I first got to know Glenn after buying his books on SEO copywriting. (I cannot recommend them highly enough and you can buy them here.) So, yes, Glenn definitely knows his onions when it comes to SEO copywriting but that’s not what I wanted to talk to him about.

Venezia Duffle in Vecchio Brown from Anna Roe & Co

The day I fell in love with a men’s leather bag

Glenn wrote this product description of a men’s leather bag and it captured a little bit of my soul. I think about Glenn’s little blurb quite a bit. Not because I love leather bags, or James Bond, but because (I think) it’s a perfect example of copywriting with personality.

So I quizzed Glenn about creating a brand personality and writing copy that has that personality wafting through it, like all the yummy things you remember from your childhood. read more

Sometimes working with a new copywriting client is like starting a new friendship. A friendship that could become so much more. When I hand over the first draft of their copywriting, it can feel like I’m handing them my heart.

It’s agony. Delicious, wonderful agony but agony none the less. Will they like it? Have I captured the spirit of their business? Have I taken it a step further and turned that spirit into copy that is some kind of wonderful?

Sometimes, the answer is no. Sometimes, the first version isn’t quite right and it can feel like my heart has been stomped on by a stiletto. Ok, so that’s a bit dramatic. I honestly don’t take feedback personally but I always want to nail it. When I don’t, I’m disappointed…. In myself.

But do you know what? A little rejection is good for the soul.

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I don’t know about you, but I know my Google Analytics are a gold mine of information but much to my shame, I don’t check them very often.

I see the traffic graphs go up, and I’m happy. I check where traffic comes from along with the keywords people are using to click to my site and I’m gratified (and bemused). Sometimes, I even click around the other menus but I rarely linger because, to be quite frank, I don’t really know what I’m looking at.

If you’re in the same boat, then you’re in for a treat!

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As a writer, particularly one who enjoys the many benefits of working from home, there are few things less appealing than having to work in an office every day. However, office life is no longer about working the 9-5 grind in a solitary cubicle. In fact,  working in one of the growing number of co-working spaces could actually benefit a lot of freelancers and other professionals for that matter.

Here’s how.

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It’s that time of year again. The time when blog writers throw their hat in the ring to be judged and validated by a team of experts. I’m talking about the Australian Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blogs competition.

I’ve always been a voter, supporting my favourite blogs: the blogs I look out for in my inbox, the blogs I bookmark and enjoy over a cup of tea, the blogs that change the way I work, write and play.

This year, I decided I should throw my own hat into the ring…. And so I have.

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So you’ve written your blog post or web page and you’ve been keeping Google in your sights. You’ve been using those keywords [CHECK] while being mindful of not sounding like a spambot [CHECK].

At one stage or another you probably got really into your topic (which is awesome) but now you’re not sure if your blog post (or web page) is still SEO friendly. Could you optimise it a little more? Should you?

Well, hold on to your keywords. This is going to be good. 

Last week I shared how I got to Google’s page#1 for some really high level keywords (copywriter and copywriting). Once I write a blog post or webpage I do spend some time optimising it. This is what I do….

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Last week I got a lovely surprise. A tweet peep, Jen Dainer, tweeted me a picture of some Google search results. She’d started typing “copywriter” into everyone’s favourite search engine and before she’d completed the word, there I was ranked at number two (right after Wikipedia). Someone else then told me I was ranked number three for the word “copywriting” *.

To say I was pleased is a massive understatement. I don’t pay an SEO company. I’ve done it all myself and SEO wasn’t my primary focus. Do you want to know how?

* Before you call “bullshit”, read the post and the disclaimers at the end.

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You’ve got that sinking feeling in your gut. This project isn’t going well. Your client keeps changing their mind and you’re spending way more time than you had allowed. They can’t expect you to do all this extra work at no charge, can they? Well, unless you told your client this situation wasn’t covered in your quote – yes, they can.

Enter: terms and conditions.

Terms and conditions are much like the rules of a game. They let everyone know the basic parameters in which they must operate and how all the players interact.

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If you want your copywriting to be just like you bought it from the shop, it needs to be tight. But what does ‘tight copywriting’ really mean?

Imagine your copywriting as a wet towel. You have to wring out all the excess water before you can use it, and that’s what ‘tightening’ your copywriting is. It’s getting rid of excess adjectives, superlatives, metaphors and …waffle.

You might be wondering how your blog post, web copy or brochure can possibly be interesting once you take out all the ‘good bits’.

Painting a mental picture for your reader is important, as is telling a story. However, copywriting that’s too wordy wastes your reader’s time and makes your message harder to understand. It’s also a sign that you don’t know what you want to say.

Good copywriting doesn’t use a single unnecessary word. That’s what tight copywriting is.

Here are some handy tips to help you wring out your marketing copy.

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